On 6/16/2010 6:11 PM, Chris Burck wrote: > jim, i posed some questions early on, which i'm glad to see you > answered (in part) when responding to jason. it would still help to > know what sort of funds you have to work with. whether it be your > economic development budget, or other funding streams which might be > under the control of other administrators, but which you could > influence in your capacity to coordinate programs. there are almost > certainly grant monies which you could bring in as well. not to > mention existing local business which might be convinced to donate > money or resources (materials, transportation, expertise) to the > cause. i would encourage you, if you haven't already, to explore all > of this. you might be surprised by what you can pull together. that > said, in my opinion fritz (i think it was fritz) and jason are on the > right track. and i wouldn't stop at biofuels. wind, solar, even > small scale hydro. all of these things require research (i.e. what > are the wind, water power, and biomass resources in your area). this > is where your community colleges, tecnical schools and so on would > play a key role. when it comes to actually put shovels in the ground, > so to speak, lots of materials are to be had for next to nothing at > your local scrap metal yard or trash dump. i could go on, but the > point is, there is much you can do that doesn't hinge entirely on > whether or not some outside entity decides to bring their venture, > which might or might succed, to your neighborhood. > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > Chris,
/"it would still help to know what sort of funds you have to work with"/ None of which I know. But we have a state USDA director who is very excited about algae. I'll see how interested he might be. From there I'll go looking. /"not to mention existing local business which might be convinced to donate money or resources (materials, transportation, expertise"/ I have been in touch with a VP at AlgaeVenture. My governor's regional director has promised me that the two of us are going up there to meet with them. Be sure I'll bring the matter up for discussion. There is another firm out west with whose president I have also been corresponding. I think either firm might take a project like this under its wings as long as no investment was being sought. (These guys are all looking for money themselves) /"and i wouldn't stop at biofuels. wind, solar, even small scale hydro"/ And let's not forget there are other uses for algae, animal feedstock, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc. As for wind, southern Ohio is a very poor place for wind. PV solar is being explored here. We are having trouble getting farmers to offer suitable land for lease for solar farms. Looking at rooftop deployment, limited footprint available. I keep plugging, though I am not a particular fan of PV, even though my senior project in engineering school was on PV and I worked in the semicinductor industry for years. It's just too expensive yet. Scientists and engineers are working on bringing up the efficiency but all their solutions look terribly expensive to me. Still we can hope. I want all of you to know that you have me looking at this from a new angle. It was flawed thinking to hope that I could attract a business here. This locally focused, locally grown concept sounds much more viable. We could start by educating a core group of local young people, light a fire under them and be ready to step in and help them in any way we can. Then let's see what they can get done. And don't castigate me for focusing too much on algae. It's just that it offers the greatest opportunity for serious learning. I have a broadband deployment meeting to go to (see I actually do have legitimate work to do - Ha). I need to take off. I see I am still getting new e-mails. I am beginning to suspect this is a coordinated effort to overwhelm me. But I appreciate your help, all of you. Jim P.S. Small scale hydro, huh? That might deserve a look. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20100617/318028f9/attachment.html _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
